Flora Andromeda
by LJConnelly
Summary: Mulder and Scully travel to a remote island in the Mediterranean to investigate the mysterious disappearances of several young botanists. Mulder wishes for Scully's sea legs. Part case investigation, part sickfic. Spoilers: minimal - I've seen only the first two seasons. Rated T for scattered swearing. Otherwise pretty vanilla. More "dramedy" than drama. Feedback welcome.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first foray into X-Files fanfiction. I'm only on Season 2 (I know, I'm about 20 years late to the party) so I don't think I have their voices and mannerisms down pat quite like I did with Castle and Beckett (suggestions welcome!) but nonetheless I had way too much fun with this. I own no copyright to X-Files or any characters therein. The "extras" and episode-specific characters are mine. Mulder, Scully, and Skinner certainly are not. Speaking of our heroes, they'll show up in Chapter Two, I promise.**

 _Unnamed Island, Mediterranean Sea_

 _300 miles off the coast of Greece_

 _September 22nd, 1996_

Lani Cho huddled in front of the fireplace in the small cabin that she and her team of Botany students had called home for the past six months, sketching a diagram of the tree that been felled by lightning the night before. The inner structure of the tree was like nothing she had ever seen before. Though the tree looked like a sturdy evergreen from the outside, the inside was a flaky, almost scaly texture. There were no rings, not even anything she would consider wood. The design almost reminded her of nested petals on a rose, but made of a substance she couldn't identify.

"How's it look under the microscope?" Lani asked her colleague, Melissa Edenbury.

"Weird," said Melissa. "Not very plantlike. Except that it's photosynthesizing."

"Still? And in this light?" Lani looked around the room, dimly light by the fire and the headlamp Melissa was wearing.

"Yeah. Actually faster now that it's dark."

"That's weird."

Lani felt a shiver go down her spine. She looked back and forth between Melissa and her other colleague Jackie and wondered if one of them was next.

"I know what you're thinking," said Melissa. "We can't think like that. Come on. Just finish your diagram and let's get some sleep."

Jackie stood up and checked the lock on the door. "I don't know how you can be so calm!" she said. "Two weeks ago there were five of us, now it's just us, and we still don't know who's taking them!"

Melissa rolled her eyes. "They have to be on the island somewhere, Jackie. If they're not at the inn, and if Spike didn't take them off the island, they're still here. No one's seen any other boats coming and going, and there's no way anyone would make it out of here in a little canoe."

"Just because they didn't make it doesn't mean they didn't try," said Lani.

"Relax. We'll find them."

Lani sighed and closed her notebook. "Yeah, but will we find them alive?"

"Lani!"

Lani threw her notebook on the floor and stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her, then curled up under the blankets, crying into her knees.

Back in the living room, Melissa waved Jackie over to look in the microscope.

"What is it?"

Melissa jumped back as her slide shattered and her microscope fell off the table, smashing on the floor. "The cells... They grew."

"What the hell?"

Melissa was looking in awe at what was a nearly invisible sliver of plant fiber a few minutes ago. "I turned off the headlamp to see if they'd photosynthesize faster when it got even darker. I guess they did."

A dozen or so distinct plant scales lay on the table and the floor, pulsating as if electrically charged.

"That was in your Petri dish?"

"Under a slide. It was a millimeter thick, tops."

"I want it out of here."

"It's a plant, Jackie."

"It just broke your microscope!"

Melissa sighed, scooping the fragments into an empty bowl. "I guess I'll have to write the university for a new one. I'll call about it tomorrow."

"Can you just... set it on the porch?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't want it to blow away or anything, but if it grows this fast it might break the whole cabin."

Jackie cracked a smile. "I hope not. I'm going to bed. I want to get in at least an hour's search tomorrow morning before we get started."

"Okay. I'll go with you."

"Night."

Jackie opened the bedroom door a crack, peeking through the opening to see if Lani was still awake.

"What was all that?" Lani asked.

Jackie shrugged and sat on the bottom bunk next to Lani. "There are some weird-ass plants on this island."

"I'm scared."

"Of the plants?"

"Of getting kidnapped."

Jackie twirled her hair. "You think that's what happened to Minh and Jessica?"

"What else?"

"I don't know. Let's get some sleep."

Jackie climbed the ladder to the top bunk and turned out the lamp. Lani pulled the blankets around her tightly and hugged her pillow.

Lani awoke after a fitful few hours of sleep, unsure at first of what had woken her. She squinted at the digital alarm clock, then peered around the room to see what had made the sound - if indeed it was a sound. At first she saw nothing, so she tiptoed out of bed, blanket wrapped around her shoulders, looking around. Everything seemed just like she left it. The window was closed, Melissa was sound asleep in the bunk on the other side of the room, and Jackie was tucked safely in the top bunk above her.

 _Probably just my imagination,_ Lani thought, crawling back into bed. _...but imagining what?_

Just as she closed her eyes, a deafening high-pitched humming pierced her eardrums and rattled the bones in her scull. She covered her ears and curled up, trying to block out the sound, but it made no difference. She cried out, thinking surely her ears must be bleeding.

As quickly as it had begun, when Lani next opened her eyes, it was morning and everything seemed to be as it was. Melissa was still sleeping soundly across from her and Jackie-

Jackie was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I was on a writing frenzy all weekend, so here's Chapter 2! Now we actually get to see our old friends Mulder and Scully. It's a bit of a short section, but more is on its way soon.**

 _J. Edgar Hoover Building_

 _Washington D.C._

 _October 1st, 1996, 2 P.M._

"Planning a European vacation?" Scully asked, looking over Mulder's shoulder at a spread of brochures about hotels in London and offbeat attractions championing the fringes of Greek mythology.

"Better," said Mulder, tapping a file folder next to the tourist information.

"A case? Overseas?"

Mulder nodded. "A team of botanists out of UC Berkeley is in the midst of a year-long study on a remote island in the Mediterranean, here." He tapped a spot on a map, seemingly empty water.

"I didn't know there was an island there."

"This is an old map. Anyway, the team is collecting data on new species of plants discovered on the island. Six months into their study, a series of attacks began on the students." Mulder opened the folder and pulled out a few photos - presumably student ID photos of the team. "First Minh Mai was found on the floor of their cabin, appearing to have been beaten. A week later, she completely disappeared."

"Kidnapped?"

"Seems that way," said Mulder. "And it keeps going. Shortly after Minh Mai disappeared, another team member Jessica Glasser was attacked in the same way, and after another week, she too disappeared. The other girls started to get scared, and called the university to report that their friends were missing. They seemed to be in denial, insisting that they had to be somewhere on the island, but the university called in the FBI to investigate since the attacks before the disappearances sound like definite foul play."

"You think?" said Scully. "I'm surprised they didn't call sooner."

Mulder shrugged. "International calls from the middle of nowhere are pretty expensive."

Scully shook her head. "Still."

"Anyway," Mulder went on, "when the FBI contacted the team September 27th, there had already been another disappearance. A third member of the team, Jackie Leland was missing from her bed that morning. This time no precursor attack."

"Okay," said Scully. "So there's a serial kidnapper preying on a group of young botanists. Any motive? And what's your interest in this case?"

"There have been no signs of struggle, no forced entry, nothing. None of the other girls saw or heard anything up until the night of Jackie's disappearance, when Lani Cho woke up to a deafening humming like a ringing in her ears in the middle of the night. The next morning Jackie was gone.

"Plus, there's barely anyone on the island. There's a pier on the western shore, a small hotel, the cabin near the middle of the island where the team is stationed, and that's it. It's practically uninhabited. Not even a general store."

"Pretty limited suspect pool," said Scully. "Seems one of them is really good at making people disappear. Why do you want to investigate an international kidnapping in the middle of nowhere?"

Mulder smirked. "The island is a hot bed for UFO sightings."

Scully rolled her eyes. "I thought you said it was practically uninhabited."

"It is. By humans."

"Mulder, if you're suggesting that these girls were all abducted by aliens, I'm not flying clear across the world so you can-"

"It gets better," Mulder cut in.

Scully looked at her watch. "Go on."

"One of the two remaining botanists wrote something in a statement that she said she didn't even want to share with her teammates. For every one of the attacks, and the disappearances, she's had an intense sensation of something being horribly wrong even though she witnessed nothing. And then there's this."

Mulder handed Scully a faxed copy of a photo of a jar of leaves.

"Okay..."

"These fell out of Melissa Edenbury's hair," said Mulder dramatically.

"So? They're botany students. I bet they all had leaves in their hair."

"Not _in_ her hair. _On_ her hair."

"On?"

"On. As in, growing from the ends of her hair," Mulder explained. "She pulled them out and sent them to the university."

"Did her hair bleed sap, too? And are you saying the team of botanists is actually comprised of parasympathetic plant people with a penchant for parting from the planet?"

"Or onto an alien ship."

"I'm sure there's a logical explanation. For the disappearances, _and_ the... leaves," said Scully.

"Perhaps," said Mulder. "Either way, Skinner tells me Athens is nice this time of year." He handed Scully an envelope. "Go pack a bag and take a nap. Our red eye to London leaves Dulles at ten p.m."

Scully smiled wryly. "I'll sleep on the plane."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: The next section looked a little short on its own, so lucky you; you get the next three sections together in this chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Heathrow Airport_

 _London, England_

 _October 2nd, 11 A.M. GMT_

Mulder yawned and readjusted his carry-on bag as he checked the gate assignment and hurried through the airport. "They could have put our connecting flights a little farther apart," he grumbled, brushing past a group of sleepy tourists.

"Or the gates a little closer together," Scully added, taking a step and a half for each of Mulder's.

They nonetheless arrived at the gate for the flight to Athens with a few minutes to spare, and sat down wearily while waiting for their row to be called.

"It's almost too bad we don't have a chance to stay in London for a few days," said Scully, looking out the windows and hoping for a view of the city. There wasn't much to see aside from miles of Tarmac and the buzzing activity of luggage carts and airport personnel.

"It's nicer in Athens, I hear," said Mulder. "And we at least have an evening there to see the city."

"If we're awake. Nothing like fast forwarding through the night to wear you out."

"I thought you were going to sleep on the plane."

"I did." Scully yawned again. "Not quite the same as nice mattress, though."

Just then, the announcement for their row came over the loudspeaker, and they shuffled onto the plane. Twenty minutes later, they were at cruising altitude over Europe, and a stewardess came by with the beverage cart.

"Anything to drink?" she asked.

"Coffee," said Mulder and Scully in unison.

The stewardess smiled and poured two cups of coffee, which neither of them bothered to sweeten before chugging.

"Long trip?" the stewardess asked.

"Part two of three," said Mulder, stretching and cracking his knuckles.

The stewardess looked over her shoulder before refilling both their cups. "Enjoy the flight," she said.

* * *

 _Athens, Greece_

 _October 2nd, 7:30 P.M. EET_

Although it was evening in Athens and the agents had spent a long day traveling, it wasn't even noon yet back in DC. The weather was cool and dried leaves sprinkled the streets, occasionally dancing in the fresh sea breeze. Once checked into the hotel, they went to their separate rooms to get settled.

Seeing as they'd be on the road again in less than twelve hours, Mulder didn't bother unpacking. He slid his suitcase up against the wall and looked at his watch, then shook his head and compared it the clock on the wall before twisting the knob on his watch to correct the time. He took a quick shower, then debated between pajamas and a clean suit. It was eight o'clock by then, but still too early to go bed even by Athens time, let alone in DC. _Suit it is._

Scully was just curling up with a book when there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked, lowering the book and taking off her glasses.

"It's me. Are you still up?"

"Yeah. Come on in."

"It's locked."

Scully set the book on the nightstand and opened the door. "What is it?"

"I know I should be tired, but it's lunch time back home. You want to go get something to eat on our one night in Athens? My last real meal was about five thousand miles ago."

"Yeah, I could use something to eat," Scully agreed. "Let me just get changed."

Mulder nodded. "I'll meet you in the lobby."

Scully got dressed and went downstairs, where she found Mulder pouring over the case file.

"How long did you think it takes me to change?" she asked.

Mulder shrugged. "Just wanted to brush up on the details before we head out tomorrow."

"Or calculating your odds of a UFO sighting?" Scully asked, eyebrow cocked.

"No need," said Mulder with a boyish grin. "Practically guaranteed."

He shuffled through the papers, stopped at one, and his expression changed. "Oh, great."

"What is it?'

"Nothing." Mulder quickly put the papers back in the folder and the folder back in the bag. "Let's go enjoy our one night in Athens."

"So where are we going?" Scully asked.

"Out."

With such a short stay, they hadn't bothered to get a rental car, so instead they took to the street on foot, searching for a place to eat.

"The city's beautiful at night," said Scully, taking in the city lights and the distant sound of the sea.

"I told you."

About ten minutes down the road, they found a restaurant and went inside.

"Would like a table inside or on the heated balcony?" the host asked them.

"Balcony sounds nice," said Mulder.

"Good choice," said the host with a wink. "Much more romantic."

Scully cleared her throat and gave Mulder a look, half disgruntled and half amused, but they followed the host up the stairs to the balcony anyway.

"Oh, wow, you can see the Parthenon from here," Scully breathed as the host showed them to their table.

"This _is_ romantic," said Mulder, looking out at the city.

"Don't get any ideas, Mulder."

"If you're looking for a romantic getaway, that is," he covered quickly, picking up a menu to hide the grin.

"Right."

They ordered a round of drinks, followed by a meal of local specialties, and stayed out on the balcony until well after the glasses and plates were empty.

"We should probably head back to the hotel," said Scully around ten. "Our boat leaves early tomorrow morning."

"That it does," Mulder agreed.

Back at the hotel, they said a quick goodnight in the hallway and went to bed.

* * *

 _Unnamed Island, Mediterranean Sea_

 _October 3rd, 3:30 A.M._

Lani and Melissa were huddled together in the bottom bunk, holding flashlights and listening closely for any signs of an assailant.

"Why didn't you tell me about your premonitions before?" Lani whispered.

"They weren't premonitions," said Melissa. "More like... It was almost like I was right there with each one of them. Like I was them. When they got attacked, I felt it too."

"What do you mean you felt it?"

Melissa pulled up her shirt and shined her flashlight at her ribs. "I've had these bruises since Minh was attacked." She dropped her shirt and pulled at her collar. "And these since Jessica was attacked. No one touched me."

Lani frowned. "That's exactly where they were bruised."

"I know.

"And what happened when they disappeared?"

Melissa pulled her hair over her shoulder. "It gets even weirder." She combed through a strand of hair, stopping when her fingers caught a leaf. "These started growing in my hair."

Lani pulled on the leaf, growing wide-eyed when she saw that it was attached to the hair itself.

"What the hell?"

As Lani let go of the leaves, a blinding light filled the room. Melissa covered her ears against the unbearable ringing.

When the light was gone, so was Lani.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, I hope you all have as much fun reading this section as I had writing it. And by "fun" I mean more or less trying to hypnotize myself into the feeling the movement of the boat so I could write this as convincingly as possible. Did I succeed? Read for yourself and decide!**

* * *

 _Themistokleous Pier_

 _Athens, Greece_

 _October 3rd, 7 A.M._

* * *

"Mornin', agents. Name's Spike. I'll be yer cap'n on the crossin' to Maltissa."

"Come again?" Mulder asked, shaking the hand of the grizzled seaman.

"Island ain't got no name, but I gotta call it somethin'. I'm tryin' out diff'rent names ev'ry time I sail to an' from it till I find a good 'un. Today it's Maltissa. Little Malta."

"Ah, I see."

"How many people are aboard the ship?" Scully asked, surveying the vessel. "Skinner told us it wasn't exactly a popular cruise line. I got the impression it would be much smaller."

"Jus' you two, my firs' mate, an' a cook." said Spike. "Ye'll be wantin' the bigger ship crossin' the Mediterranean this time o' year."

"Bigger ship sounds great," said Mulder.

"Cabins are below," said Spike. "Ye can stow yer bags there, but I recc'mend the upper deck fer sightseein' on a fine autumn morn such as this. Eatin's in the upper level inside, and if he ain't fixin' feastin', Jimmy'll even give ye a shoeshine if ye ask him nice like."

They boarded the ship and carried their bags down to the lower deck.

"Dull shoes are the least of my worries," Mulder muttered as he tucked his suitcase under a bed in one of the cabins.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing."

Soon they were underway, seated in comfortable chairs at the bow of the upper deck, Athens fading into a distant speck of land behind them.

Scully closed her eyes, breathing in the fresh, salty sea air, and feeling the cool breeze on her face. She could almost see her father at the helm, steering them out to their next adventure. After a long day of cramped and stuffy airplane seats, she was refreshed and delighted to be on a spacious ship with the wind in her hair.

Mulder was not.

Two hours into the twelve hour crossing, he was clenching his teeth, white-knuckling the armrests, and and staring almost unblinkingly at a fixed point on the horizon.

"Don't you think it's a little funny?" Scully asked.

"What?"

"This ship is so...nice. I was expecting some tiny one-man operation with a bunch of rust and barnacles. This ship is _catered_. Where do you think he gets the money? It's not like there're dozens of paying passengers."

"Dunno," said Mulder, shaking his head slightly but not taking his eyes off the horizon.

"Maybe he does other routes in between this one," Scully wondered aloud. "Though I can't imagine why he'd even want to do this one if the others are so lucrative."

"Mm."

"I'm going to grab another bite to eat," said Scully, standing up and heading towards the doors. "You want anything?"

"No thanks."

She returned a few minutes later with something rolled in fig leaves, or perhaps it was seaweed. Mulder grimaced, imagining the slimy feel of seaweed slipping down his throat. Oblivious, Scully sat down next to him, sighed contentedly, and took a bite.

"Mm, this is delicious, are you sure you don't want any?" She held it up next to him, close enough that he could smell it.

"Ugh, god, no!" Mulder stood up abruptly, took a few unsteady steps towards the doors as the waves rocked the boat sideways, then hurried down the stairs and out of sight.

 _Bathroom, argh, where the fuck is the bathroom?_

He found the tiny water closet across from the cabins, slammed the door, and dropped to his knees, stomach churning. _Why couldn't we have just taken a helicopter?_ He sat still for a few minutes, thinking that if he could catch his breath, maybe the feeling would pass.

There was a knock on the door.

"Just a minute," he said.

"Mulder, it's me. Are you okay in there?"

There was moment's silence before he answered. "Just spare me your... sushi, or whatever that was, next time, would you?"

"I'm sorry, Mulder. I didn't mean to be inconsiderate. I forgot you get seasick."

"That's alright, Scully. I'm fine."

He didn't really think she believed him. Considering he could hear her sigh through the thin wooden door, he was pretty sure she could hear him retching in between sentences. He stared at the water in the toilet bowl, mesmerized by how it was undulating in unison with the water beneath the hull, not to mention the water in his stomach. Scully hadn't said anything in a few minutes, but he knew she was still there. At least her silence bought him some time to try to think of a good way to say "I appreciate your concern, but I'd rather a little privacy," without having to open his mouth for more than a couple words, but without sounding as harsh as "Go away".

The waves surged, thrusting the ship upwards, then plummeting back down, only to keep swaying and rocking at the mercy of the rough water. Mulder was sure he'd left his head at the crest of the wave until the next particularly disorienting diagonal motion reminded him that his head and everything else was floating in an ocean of vertigo. He was so dizzy he could hardly see straight, and it was almost a relief when he tasted bile at the back of throat and emptied his swimming stomach - at least until he remembered seconds later that there was no such thing as "getting it over with" when it came to motion sickness.

"Can I get you anything?" Scully asked hesitantly.

"Water?" Mulder suggested. There wasn't even a sink in this microscopic excuse for a bathroom.

"Sure. I'll be right back."

Mulder relaxed momentarily as he heard her steps disappearing down the hall, but soon the swelling and sinking of the waves made him feel sick again, and he heaved up whatever was left of his breakfast. He was glad he'd been too sleepy that morning to pay much attention to what they ate on the way out of the hotel. He was sure if he remembered what it was, he'd probably never eat it again.

After flushing the toilet again, he heard footsteps in the hall, followed by another soft knock on the door.

"It's me. Can I come in?"

"There's not much room in here."

Scully opened the door anyway and handed him a glass of water, which he took gratefully, eager to rinse the sour taste from his mouth.

"Oh, Mulder, you look miserable."

"Really?" he said, feigning disbelief. "Not at all, I love being trapped on a god forsaken wooden vessel, hundreds of miles from land, being tossed about by wave after wave of relentless rocking in all three hundred and sixty degrees, and-" he stopped ranting to vomit up the water he had tried to drink. "And being reduced to a living, breathing, rather disgusting variation on a water fountain statue," he finished.

"Mulder, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Lots of people get seasick. Especially on rough seas like this."

"You don't."

Scully shrugged. "Like you said, I inherited my dad's sea legs."

"Mm."

"Why don't you come back upstairs?" Scully suggested. "The fresh air will help you. And besides, you can't see the horizon down here. We can sit towards the middle instead of at the bow. And I promise I won't try to feed you." She offered a hand up.

"Thanks, Scully." He took her hand and stood up, then braced himself against the door frame. "Yeah, it does kind of make it worse not being able to see. As long as the fish don't mind if I use their water as the world's biggest toilet."

Scully cracked a smile. "I think the fish will manage. And there can't be much left in your stomach, anyway."

"Doesn't matter," Mulder lamented, following Scully up the stairs while holding the railing for dear life.

* * *

Hours later, somewhere past the halfway mark, when there had been no sight of land on any side for miles, the weather that had been cool but pleasant earlier had become bitingly cold. Scully had retrieved a heavy fur coat from her suitcase and a mug of hot cider from the mess hall.

"I thought the Mediterranean would be a little warmer," Mulder confessed.

"It's often a little cooler this far out from land, but this is unusually cold," said Scully.

"What made you pack the parka?"

"I was thinking of London when I packed the suitcase. I forgot we were only there for a layover."

Mulder crossed his arms, pulling his thin jacket around himself tightly and shivering.

"There's probably some blankets on those beds downstairs," Scully suggested.

"Don't wanna move."

Scully looked at him patronizingly. "Do you want me to bring you a blanket?"

"I owe you one," he answered.

"Here, you can hold this," said Scully, handing him her cider mug. "You don't have to drink it."

Mulder held it out at arm's length for a moment, then pulled it in closer to relish the warmth on his icy fingers. Scully returned shortly with the blanket and exchanged it for the cider.

"Thanks," Mulder said, bundling up against the cold.

Scully took a seat and another swig of cider, looking out across the water and smiling as though she had just come aboard. Mulder sat stone-still, increasing his chances of winning his staring contest with the horizon. It had been a few hours since he'd last doubled over the guardrail, but each gust of wind still made him uneasy and sent his palms and the back of his neck into a cold sweat. After one such swell had passed, he looked up surprised at the sound of Scully laughing.

"What could possibly be so funny?" He asked, daring to peel his eyes off the sky for a moment.

"You're usually the one seeing little green men," she giggled.

"Oh, very funny, Scully." The wind picked up again, and he returned his gaze to the edge of the sky, swallowing hard against the beckoning nausea. "This really doesn't make you even the slightest bit queasy?" he asked skeptically.

"No, not really. If anything, I find it relaxing."

Mulder rubbed his temples, breathing carefully. "Well, I'm glad _one_ of us is enjoying the twelve-hour carnival ride from hell."


End file.
